Marius Flothuis

Marius Flothuis, (30 October 1914 – 13 November 2001) born and died in Amsterdam, was a Dutch composer, musicologist and music critic.

Flothuis first took courses at Vossius Gymnasium in Amsterdam.

There he studied piano and music theory with Hans Brandts Buys.

His musicology studies continued at the University of Amsterdam under the direction of Albert Smijers and Karel Philippus Bernet Kempers.

In 1937, Marius Flothuis became assistant artistic director of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

In 1942 his career was interrupted because of his refusal to cooperate with occupying Germans.

From 1946 to 1950 he was librarian at the Donemus Foundation, and was a music critic there until 1953.

It was only in the 1960s that he broke away from this style and followed his personal Intuition.

Flothuis' catalog contains more than a hundred opus numbers.

Flothuis recognized his marked preference for French composers like Debussy and Ravel.

His compositions, in almost all genres, have little to do with the turbulence of contemporary classical music.

His music conveys rather subtle and concisely expressed universal values, attuned to a classical balance.

Until the end of his life, Flothuis took an active part in Dutch musical life.

Flothuis graduated in 1969 with a thesis on the arrangements of the works of Mozart.

That year Flothuis re-joined the Concertgebouw orchestra, becoming artistic director until 1974.

Marius Flothuis was also professor of musicology at the Utrecht University from 1974 to 1983.

His international reputation was then based on his studies devoted to Mozart.

From 1980 to 1994, he was president of Zentral Institut für Mozart-Forschung in Salzburg.

He was considered an authority in the field of Mozart music, which led him to write cadenzas for some of the composer's concertos.

As a composer, Flothuis remained largely self-taught.

He first composed in a relatively conservative language.